Police form special team to probe alleged gang rape of girl in Eilat; 2 arrested

Police formed a special investigative detail on Thursday to probe an alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Eilat by 30 men.

A police statement said Deputy Commissioner Yoram Sofer, commander of the southern district, held a situational assessment with the detail.

A pair of suspects in their late 20s from the northern city of Hadera have so far been arrested.

According to Channel 12 news, one of the suspects denied involvement.

The special police team took footage from security cameras in the Hayam Haadom (Red Sea) Hotel and are trying to identify suspects in the footage.

An official involved in the investigation told Channel 12, “At the moment we have two suspects in our hands, but it’s still the beginning of a complex investigation. We have an indication that there were several people in the same room. We do not know at this time what their exact number is. We also do not know at this stage what everyone present did there.”

The official added that investigators believe some of the suspects filmed the incident on mobile devices.

The police are investigating whether the hotel bears any responsibility for the alleged incident.

An official involved in the case told Walla news, “It’s not possible that there was massive drinking of alcohol, and men going up and coming down in groups — and that [at the same time,] no one in the hotel’s management or security paid any attention. They have a responsibility to hotel guests.”

The case has sent shockwaves throughout Israel, after testimony indicated the men lined up outside the intoxicated underage girl’s hotel room, patiently waiting their turn to rape her, as eyewitnesses failed to intervene.

The teenager made the police complaint on Friday. A first suspect was detained on Wednesday, and his remand was extended for five days at the Ashkelon Magistrate Court. He was described by Hebrew media reports as a 27-year-old resident of northern Israel.

A second suspect, also 27, from Hadera, was arrested on Thursday morning. He was scheduled to be brought to court later on Thursday for a hearing.

Police said additional arrests were expected.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Thursday led a chorus of condemnation by Israeli leaders on Thursday over the incident.

“This is shocking, there is no other word. This is not only a crime against the girl, this is a crime against humanity itself that is worthy of all condemnation, and those responsible must be brought to justice,” Netanyahu tweeted.

Gantz, in a tweet, said: “From yesterday afternoon, I’ve been trying, and failing, to understand: What is a man who stands in a crowded line with dozens of others, on the way to a room where a young, disoriented girl is lying down, trying to prove?”

Channel 12 reported the teenage girl went to the southern resort city earlier this month with a friend, where they met a group of the friend’s acquaintances. They all went out to drink together and at one point came back to a room in the hotel.

The teenager and her friend say that this is when the girl was raped by the men, one after the other.

The first suspect was arrested after messages between him and the teenager revealed there was video documentation of the alleged assault. He denied communicating with the girl, saying someone else was using his phone.

The suspect said that more than 30 men had sex with the girl, but that documentation from security cameras would prove that it was not done under duress — that the men stood in line at the entrance to the room while the girl, intoxicated, called for them to come to her.

Police said the teenager’s friend tried to help her, but was unable to.

The girl’s friend reportedly told investigators that one of the suspects “said he was a medic and wanted to help” when it was clear that the girl was under the influence of alcohol. The suspect “took advantage of her and slept with her when she was out of control,” the friend said, according to Channel 13 news.

Nine out of 10 rape cases in Israel are closed by prosecutors without charge, according to an annual survey released at the end of last year, which also found a significant increase in reports of sexual assault and harassment to the authorities.

The report by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel found that in 2018 police opened 6,220 investigations into alleged sex crimes and harassment, including 1,166 investigations of suspected rape, marking a 12 percent increase as compared to the previous year and a 40% rise from 2013.

Amid a rise in high-profile gang rape cases in schools, the report found that most victims (63%) of reported gang rapes in 2018 were of girls between the ages of 12 and 18.

Last year, a group of Israeli men and teens were arrested in Cyprus after a British woman said they gang-raped her at the Ayia Napa holiday resort on the east Mediterranean island.

The British tourist was found guilty of lying about the alleged attack, but has stood by her account of the 2019 incident, saying Cypriot police gave her no choice other than to retract her claim.

All 12 of the Israelis were initially arrested, but were released after police said the woman retracted the rape allegations. They all returned to Israel and were greeted with scenes of celebration that many commentators deemed highly inappropriate under the circumstances.

President Reuven Rivlin, in a long missive posted to his Facebook page and addressed to young Israelis, said on Thursday night, “I no longer have words in the face of this horror.”

“These days are days of madness and a loss of routine. I know, when there are no boundaries, the first thought [is] of how liberating it is… But believe me, some of our biggest difficulties as human beings begin when we lose a boundary,” Rivlin wrote. “Sexual assault, rape, sexual exploitation, sexual violence, are stains that cannot be erased.”

“These are cases of an unforgivable loss of boundaries, and they are destroying us as a society,” he wrote. “Faced with exploitation, faced with violence, faced with abuse, faced with cruelty — you will set a boundary. A boundary for you, a boundary for those around you. Do not stand aside. Do not take part in the silence.”